How to Testify

Everything starts at Texas Legislature Online (TLO). Search the bill number in the upper right of the page to see its author, current text, status, and the committee it was referred to. If you do not yet know the bill number, TLO’s search tools let you search by subject or keyword.

Hearings can come together quickly, so set alerts. A free My TLO account lets you build bill lists and receive email notices when a bill is scheduled or a committee posts a hearing. Many regular witnesses simply follow the committees that handle the issues they care about.

Under House rules, a committee must post notice of a public hearing at least five calendar days in advance during a regular session, and at least 24 hours in advance during a special session. Senate committees generally post on a 24-hour rule, which the Senate can and sometimes does suspend late in a session.

The notice is your most important document. It lists the bills or topics, the room and time, whether the hearing takes public or invited-only testimony, any time limit, how many paper copies of written testimony to bring, and, for House hearings, a link for submitting comments online. Each committee sets its own procedures, so when a notice gives an instruction, follow it over anything in a general guide, including this one.

The House runs a paperless system called House Witness Registration, which you can use to register a position, register to testify, and note that you are submitting written testimony. The single best time saver is creating your public profile ahead of time. Your name, address, and affiliation are saved, so at the Capitol you only choose the hearing, the bill, and your position.

A profile does not register you for anything by itself; you still sign up for the specific bill on hearing day. Before you go, know the bill number, the committee hearing it, the hearing time and room, and whether you are speaking for yourself or for an organization.

Touch-screen registration kiosks are located in the Capitol Extension on levels 1 and 2. You can also register from your own device, but only while connected to the Capitol’s public Wi-Fi network (Public-Capitol), using the address hwrs.house.texas.gov or by scanning the QR code on a kiosk’s welcome screen. The system has historically worked best on laptops and tablets, so if your phone gives you trouble, head to a kiosk.

Registration opens at the discretion of the committee clerk, generally on the day of the hearing itself, and the clerk is the person to ask if something goes wrong.

The House offers something the Senate does not: an online public comment portal. When a House committee posts a hearing, its notice links to the House public comment page, where Texas residents can submit written comments on agenda items until the hearing is adjourned. You choose the committee, the hearing date, and the bill or topic, then type your comment into a text box with a character limit (recent hearings have used 3,000 characters).

Comments submitted this way are compiled and posted publicly on TLO with the hearing record, so write as though anyone may read it, because anyone can.

The Senate’s process is more traditional, and it varies more from committee to committee, so the hearing notice matters even more here. Most Senate committees use Senate witness registration kiosks in the Capitol Extension hallways, and you can also reach the Senate system on the Public-Capitol Wi-Fi network. Some committees, including Senate Finance during the 89th session, have instead required oral witnesses to fill out a paper witness card and hand it to the committee’s assistant clerk, while using the kiosks for position-only registration. Notices have also specified when kiosk registration opens, such as 8:00 a.m. on the day of the hearing.

Where paper cards are used, you will usually find blank cards and the day’s agenda at the hearing room door; fill one out and hand it to the clerk along with any printed testimony. Senate cards also let you mark yourself as “resource only,” meaning you are available to answer members’ questions without arguing a side.

There is no centralized online comment portal for Senate committees. To submit written testimony, bring printed copies with your name on each copy to the committee clerk at the hearing. The number of copies varies by committee; recent notices have asked for anywhere from 13 to 40, with about 20 being common. Some committees also ask for an electronic copy sent to a committee staff email address listed in the notice.

If you cannot attend, you can mail written comments to the committee clerk at Texas Senate, P.O. Box 12068, Austin, TX 78711-2068, or contact committee members’ offices directly. Contact information for every senator is available at senate.texas.gov.

Two minutes of spoken testimony is roughly one page of text. That constraint is a gift: it forces you to decide what matters most. Skip the long introduction. Your name, your position, and your reason should come in the first few sentences.

Every bill either adds to current law or takes something away, so draw a straight line from what the bill changes to what that change would do: if the law moves from this to that, here is what happens to my business, my family, or my community. A concise if-then statement is easier for members to remember than a general appeal.

Committees hear many general arguments; what they rarely hear is how a bill would affect a particular family, business, school district, or county. If you cite numbers, cite their source, and include the source in your written version so staff can verify it. If your own representative or senator sits on the committee, say so; constituents carry weight.

Your written testimony can be longer and more detailed than your spoken remarks. Treat the spoken version as the headline and the written version as the full argument. Put your name and contact information on every page, since pages get separated when copies are distributed. Keep the tone respectful even when you disagree strongly. Members remember who treated the committee seriously.

Arrive early, ideally an hour before the posted time, to clear security, find the hearing room, and register. Rooms for high-profile bills fill up; when they do, the House and Senate typically open an overflow room where you can watch the hearing on a screen until your name is called. Bring water, a phone charger, and patience. Controversial hearings can run past midnight.

Committees usually hear the bill’s author first, then any invited testimony from agencies or experts, then public testimony. The chair generally calls public witnesses in the order they registered but has full authority to call them out of order, for example to accommodate people who traveled long distances.

When your name is called, go to the witness table or podium, state your name, whom you represent (yourself, or an organization), and your position, then begin. The chair sets the time limit, and a timer or the chair will tell you when time is up. Respect it. Finish your sentence, thank the committee, and offer to answer questions; a question from a member is extra time to make your case.

Not every question is hostile; a member may be trying to help you make your point, so take a moment to understand what is being asked before you answer. If you do not know an answer, say so and offer to follow up, then do it. Bring notes even if you know your remarks cold, because questions can pull you off script, but look up from them as often as you can. Testimony read with your head down loses the room, while eye contact keeps members listening.

The most effective witnesses are rarely strangers to the committee. Where you can, meet with committee members or their staff before the hearing, starting with your own representative or senator if they sit on the committee, and then with the offices most likely to be undecided. A short visit or call lets you explain your position, hand over your written testimony, and learn what concerns the member actually has. Staff often know which questions are on their boss’s mind, and a member who already knows you is far more likely to engage when you sit down at the table.

Those conversations are also the place to share a friendly question or two. If there is a point you know you cannot fit into two minutes, such as a key statistic, a local example, or the answer to an objection you expect from the other side, let a supportive member’s office know it would be a helpful thing to ask about. Your time limit governs your prepared remarks, but questions from members are generally at the chair’s discretion, so a well-placed question can turn a two-minute statement into a real exchange and give you room to make the argument that matters most. Offer it as a suggestion, not a script, and be ready to answer it crisply.

Treat your testimony as part of the permanent public record, because it is. Witness lists, written submissions, and hearing video outlast the hearing itself. Staff consult them when drafting amendments, future legislatures revisit them when the issue returns, and courts can look to them when interpreting what a law was meant to do. Make your written version complete and accurate enough to stand on its own for a reader who never heard you speak, with sources cited and your name and contact information on every page.

Witness lists, showing each witness’s name, affiliation, city, and position, are posted on TLO with the committee’s report on the bill. House online comments are compiled and posted with the hearing, and most hearings are broadcast live and archived on the House video page and the Senate website.

Send a short note to the offices of committee members, especially your own legislators, thanking them and restating your position (see Pro Tips for how regulars handle this). While you are at the Capitol, stop by your representative’s and senator’s offices in person. Staff are generally welcoming to constituents, and a relationship built on one visit pays off on the next.